Messiah in Judaism

The Messiah in Judaism (Hebrew: מָשִׁיחַ, romanized: māšīaḥ) is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jews. The concept of messianism originated in Judaism,^[1]^[2] and in the Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or High Priest of Israel traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil.^[3]

However, messiahs were not exclusively Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great, an Achaemenid emperor, as a messiah^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.

In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and world to come.^[1]^[2]^[8] The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah" (Hebrew: מלך משיח, romanized: melekh mashiach, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מַלכָא (הוּא) מְשִיחָא, romanized: malkā (hu) mšiḥā^[9]).^[10]

Jewish messianism gave birth to Christianity, which started as a Second Temple period messianic Jewish religious movement.^[11]^[12]

^ ^a ^b Schochet, Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jacob Immanuel. "Moshiach ben Yossef". Tutorial. moshiach.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
^ ^a ^b Blidstein, Prof. Dr. Gerald J. "Messiah in Rabbinic Thought". MESSIAH. Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
^ Exodus 30:22–25
^ Zvi, Ehud Ben; Levin, Christoph (2010). The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Historical Contexts. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. De Gruyter. p. 284. ISBN 978-3-11-022178-7. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
^ Lazarus, William P.; Sullivan, Mark (2008). Comparative Religion For Dummies. --For dummies. Wiley. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-470-23065-7. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
^ Meyer, Eduard (1901-1906). "Cyrus" Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 4, p. 404. "This prophet, Cyrus, through whom were to be redeemed His chosen people, whom he would glorify before all the world, was the promised Messiah, 'the shepherd of Yhwh' (xliv. 28, xlv. 1)."
^ Fried, Lisbeth S. "Cyrus the Messiah – The BAS Library". bib-arch.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
^ Telushkin, Joseph. "The Messiah". The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
^ "The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon". cal.huc.edu.
^ Flusser, David. "Second Temple Period". Messiah. Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
^ Shiffman, Lawrence H. (2018). "How Jewish Christians Became Christians". My Jewish Learning.
^ "Christianity: Severance from Judaism". Jewish Virtual Library. American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2018. A major difficulty in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a Jewish messianic sect, although its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the teaching of Paul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, the Jewish Christian groups were pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, Elchasaites, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them seem to have endured for several centuries. Some sects saw in Jesus mainly a prophet and not the "Christ," others seem to have believed in him as the Messiah, but did not draw the christological and other conclusions that subsequently became fundamental in the teaching of the Church (the divinity of the Christ, trinitarian conception of the Godhead, abrogation of the Law). After the disappearance of the early Jewish Christian sects and the triumph of gentile Christianity, to become a Christian meant, for a Jew, to apostatize and to leave the Jewish community.

[schochet_moshiah_ben_yossef-1] Schochet, Rabbi Prof. Dr. Jacob Immanuel. "Moshiach ben Yossef". Tutorial. moshiach.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[JVL_messiah-2] Blidstein, Prof. Dr. Gerald J. "Messiah in Rabbinic Thought". MESSIAH. Jewish Virtual Library and Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[3] Exodus 30:22–25

[Zvi_Levin_2010_p._284-4] Zvi, Ehud Ben; Levin, Christoph (2010). The Concept of Exile in Ancient Israel and its Historical Contexts. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. De Gruyter. p. 284. ISBN 978-3-11-022178-7. Retrieved 31 March 2024.

[Lazarus_Sullivan_2008_p._223-5] Lazarus, William P.; Sullivan, Mark (2008). Comparative Religion For Dummies. --For dummies. Wiley. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-470-23065-7. Retrieved 31 March 2024.

[6] Meyer, Eduard (1901-1906). "Cyrus" Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 4, p. 404. "This prophet, Cyrus, through whom were to be redeemed His chosen people, whom he would glorify before all the world, was the promised Messiah, 'the shepherd of Yhwh' (xliv. 28, xlv. 1)."

[7] Fried, Lisbeth S. "Cyrus the Messiah – The BAS Library". bib-arch.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-26. Retrieved 2018-05-23.

[JVL_The_Messiah-8] Telushkin, Joseph. "The Messiah". The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[9] "The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon". cal.huc.edu.

[JVL_Flusser-10] Flusser, David. "Second Temple Period". Messiah. Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[Shiffman-11] Shiffman, Lawrence H. (2018). "How Jewish Christians Became Christians". My Jewish Learning.

[JVL-12] "Christianity: Severance from Judaism". Jewish Virtual Library. American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. 2008. Retrieved 17 December 2018. A major difficulty in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a Jewish messianic sect, although its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the teaching of Paul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, the Jewish Christian groups were pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, Elchasaites, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them seem to have endured for several centuries. Some sects saw in Jesus mainly a prophet and not the "Christ," others seem to have believed in him as the Messiah, but did not draw the christological and other conclusions that subsequently became fundamental in the teaching of the Church (the divinity of the Christ, trinitarian conception of the Godhead, abrogation of the Law). After the disappearance of the early Jewish Christian sects and the triumph of gentile Christianity, to become a Christian meant, for a Jew, to apostatize and to leave the Jewish community.

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